Ikar Los Angeles

If Moses speaks for God and the People of Israel, what happens when he decides to speak for himself? 

What’s the first step of a spiritual journey? According to the Me’or Einyaim (18th century Hasidic Master), it’s not a grand gesture or a dramatic departure. Instead, it’s the recognition that we’re disconnected, spiritually dehydrated and yearning for something more. Once that realization is acknowledged and felt, the journey has already begun. We’ll find the water we need.

Moses has a problem. This is an edited down recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha studies class from July 28, 2022.

The last stop in the itinerary of the Israelites' desert journey has a very strange name. And a heartbreaking story.

The Legend of Serah bat Asher. And a commandment we too often overlook.

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha Studies class from July 21, 2022

It's one of the most difficult problems in theology: does God know everything we're going to do, or do we have free will? This week, we consider an answer by Judaism's most deterministic thinker: Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the Mei HaShiloach, and a response by his most illustrious student.

Recovery and Bilaam’s addictive tendencies.

If Bilaam is really so bad, that brings us back to our original question - what is he doing in the Torah? What are we reading this bizarre story at all???

The Red Heifer. Supposedly the greatest mystery of the Torah. Our Sages have puzzled over it for centuries. But isn’t this just a distraction from the main events of Parshat Hukat: the deaths of Miriam and Aaron!

Every June, we turn our attention and love to the LGBTQ+ community at IKAR. For many years we have taken the opportunity during PRIDE month to stories from LGBTQ+ folks and their family members. We're excited to share a compilation of the past three year's stories.

This week, the Angel of Death showed up twice.

“There were four judges in Sodom, and they were named for their actions: Shakrai, meaning liar, Shakrurai, habitual liar, Zayfai, forger, and Matzlei Dina, perverter of justice” (Babylonian Talmud).  In our grief and rage for the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, it is clear that we are living through the return of Sodom. But, Sodom and subsequent corrupt societies were undermined and ultimately destroyed through clarity of conscience and determined action, both of which are urgently needed today.

Ours is a tradition of stories. We see this from the flawed humanity of Adam and Eve through the tangle of relationships in Genesis and the struggle and redemption of Exodus, to the creative rabbinic interpretations of Midrash and Talmud, to the spiritually rooted Chasidic tales. Stories are essential to understanding one another and informing how we make sense of and choose to live in the world.   Right now, we need to be telling and hearing our abortion stories.  

Forty years in the desert?? Really?!?

The Israelites have begun complaining. They say they miss the meat and melons they had back in Egypt. Really?! After God freed them from slavery and is raining down manna from heaven?! These ungrateful wretches! Disgraceful. But, then again…are really they so different from us?

God gave us the law. Now we're giving it back.

Someone must have slipped something into my drink. I’m reading my Torah late one night and, suddenly, the letters start to run backwards...  

Today's episode is a bit later than usual because of Shavuot.

Thoughts on the dangers and the blessings of flag-waving